190 
SPICES 
CHAP, 
AREAS OF CULTIVATION 
The clove tree has been at one time or another 
introduced into nearly all parts of the tropics, experi- 
mentally at least, but comparatively few attempts have 
been made in most tropical countries to cultivate it on 
a large commercial scale. The Dutch, in the early days 
of cultivation, held the monopoly of this spice, as well as 
that of nutmegs and pepper, and it was this that induced 
the British to make strenuous efforts to break down 
the monopoly and to establish plantations elsewhere. 
The history of this has already been given. 
The clove is, however, a tree which requires an 
insular maritime climate, and did not prove to be suited 
to all places in which it was introduced. It was also of 
comparatively slow growth, and its produce was only in 
limited demand, so that a very extended area of cultiva- 
tion was not required to stock the world’s markets. 
It is probably due to these causes that the cultiva- 
tion is practically limited to a comparatively small 
number of countries within the tropics. 
Malay Archipelago . — The clove has been success- 
fully cultivated for commercial purposes in the Moluccas, 
its original home, and in Sumatra and Java. 
It is difficult to get any clear idea of the export at 
the present day from the Moluccas, but the amount 
exported thence seems to fluctuate largely. In 1846 
it was stated that the four islands, Amboyna, Haruku, 
Saparua, Nusa-laut, in which the clove is cultivated, 
produced 1,913,399 lbs., but only 197,826 lbs. in 1849, 
and in 1854, 1,123,972 lbs. 
In Java the cultivation never seems to have been 
very large. Spon’s Encyclopedia gives only 12,266 
lbs. in 1879-1880, and 464,547 lbs. in 1878-1879, and 
in 1871, 186,226. It is probable that most of these 
were re-exported from the Moluccas. 
Zanzibar and Pemba . — The clove was introduced 
into Zanzibar from Mauritius by an Arab in the latter 
end of the eighteenth century, and has become the 
